An
old and very small native settlement by name "Kakavandivada"
was said to exist before the foreigners had set their
foot somewhere around the place where the present Kakinada
city had developed. The present name 'Kakinada', it
is said, is derived from 'Cocanada' the name given to
their new settlement by a few merchants of Dutch origin.
The Dutch connection with the city is evident from the
peculiar Dutch Character of the architecture and design
of some of the old buildings here. Till then and for
some years later, 'Korangi' the present small sea side
village about 15 Kms. south of the present Kakinada
town was a place of greater importance than 'Cocanada'
from the view point of overseas trade and otherwise.
Around the year 1905 the Cocanada Port facility was
started to be made use of for export of some natural
commodities. Mainly because of the transquil anchorage
available in the shelter of the Godavari Sand Spit (also
known as Hope Island) which is a nature's gift to this
Port-the town had also grown consistently (from the
sixe of small foreigners settlement) keeping even pace
with the growth of merchantile activity at the Port.

The
manificience and far-sightedness of Sri Suryarao Bahadur,
the illustrous Raja of Pithapuram was perhaps the
most important factor that contributed to the later
growth of the city. Most of the Institutions, Organisations
and Associations which covered the fields of education,
culture and social reform were started either with
his personal initiative or with the help of his liberal
donations and grants. Each of the Institutions and
Organisations were to become, in the later years,
the nucleie around which the development and growth
of the Town tookplace. Greatmen of letters and men
with intense zeal for social and political reform,
even from outside the Andhra area, got attracted towards
these Institutions.

The
Cosmopolitan atmosphere that is built-up here, as
a consequence, gave a rare and unique opportunity
to atleast two generation of students and youth of
this city and around to get exposed to new winds of
liberal thought which were then blowing over the country.
Sri Raghupati Venkataratnam Naidu, Maharshi Sambamurty,
Sri Devulapalli Krishna Shastry, Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh,
Sri. Gora and Sri Uppala Laxmana Rao were a few among
the luminaries whose association with the city we
can ever be proud of. All this made Kakinada one of
the centres of Andhra cultural and intellectual rennaissance.
The Brahma Samaj and the Theosophical movements naturally
found Kakinada to be a highly fertile ground for their
consolidation and spread. The city also had a tradition
of high political consciousness right from the days
of the freedom movement. The Late Maharshi Bulusu
Sambamurty, Sri Mallipudi Pallam Raju, Sri Mosalakanti
Tirumala Rao, Dr. Vedantam Krishnayya and his wife
Kamala Devi, Sri Rangayya naidu and Sri Prativadi
Bhayankarachari (of the Kakinada Bomb case fame) were
some of the many who had inspired and led the movements
here. The meeting of the Indian National Congress
was held here in the year 1923 under the presidentship
of the famous Mohammed Ali. The meetings were attended
by Kasturba Gandhi, Vallabhai Patel, Motilal Nehru,
Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajagopalachari and other national
leaders. Also, as part of the student and youth antiimperialist
movement led by the Student Federation of India, the
city had the fortune of hosting the Netaji Subhashchandra
Bose in the year 1939. From the Trade Union view-point
also, Kakinada was perhaps the first city in the area
where municipal scavanging workers and the stevedore
workers at the Port were organised for their collective
struggles.

With
this tradition for the city, Kakinada had developed as a cultural, educational
and political centre. Pithapuram Raja's Government College is now more than 100
years old. The men's Polytechnic and the Women's Polytechnic, when they were established
here, were the first such Institutions in the Telugu Speaking area. At the commencement
of the II World War, the Engineering College at Visakhapatnam had to be shifted
to this place on a temperory basis and the college had to be regularised here
after the end of the war when the public had agitated against it shift back to
Visakhapatnam. In the year 1959, under the sage leadership of Dr. Col.Raju - ably
assisted by Dr.M.V.Krishna Rao and Dr.P.V.N.Raju - Medical Education Society,
Kakinada, was formed and the Society had (with the liberal donation received from
the Rangaraya Trust, Tanuku) started Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada. Subsequently
the college was takeover by the Government. Malladi Satyalingam Naicker's Charities
had established a group of educational institutions right rom the elementary school
to a degree college and also a Vedic Pathasala to make the campus almost resemble
a mini-university now. The Town Hall which was registered in the beginning of
the Century; K.R.V.K.Library which was started in the year 1916 with the liberal
donation of about 16,000 books from Sri K.R.V.Krishna Rao, Xamindar of Polavaram
and the East Godavari Association the parent body for the Town Hall and the K.R.V.K.Library
- have been centres for cultural activity here. The Youngmen's Happy Club - another
cultural association here gave its ranks some of the past and present top ranking
artistes to the Telugu stage and filmdom. Srirama Samajam (founded in 1894 by
the late Sri Munuganti Sriramulu), Sangeeta Vidwat Sabha and Saraswati Gana Sabha
- are three local registered organisations serving the cause of classical music
over the long years to the pleasure of the connoissseur. The Cocanada Chamber
of Commerce exclusively representing the shipping and foreign trade interests
and the Godavari Chamber of Commerce representing the general trade are the two
local Trade Associations having a record of over 100 years of useful service to
the trading and commercial circles.

Against
this predominently cultural and educational back-ground, a conscious and sincere
effort was made by two individuals Sri Nakka Suryanarayana Murthy and Sri V. Sathi
Raju to put the city on the Industrial Map of the country. They have together
started Sri Ramadas Motor Transport Company - now a gainst in the automobile industry
manufacturing a wide range of auto parts of high quality. S.R.M.T. has also encouraged
establishment and development of some ancillary units to itself. Sarvaraya Textiles
(manufacturing cotton-yarn) is another industry that has put the city on the Industrial
Map of the Nation. But, inspite of all this, industrial activity in the city had
been tardy for a few decades mainly because of the lack of atleast one major industry
in or around the city.

Establishment
of Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (manufacturing phosphatic fertilizer)
and Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (manufacturing nitrogeneous fertilisers)
at the above position and with the setting-up of the above fertiliser units, Kakinada
is now aptly being called the "Fertiliser City".

Kakinada
Port which has been functioning as an Anchorage Port till now, is presently being
developed as a Deep Water Berthing Port with the 250 crores financial assistance
from the Asia Development Bank. Kakinada deep Water Port is expected to be commissioned
with three shore-connected berths shortly.

The
New Port facility that is comming up along with the availiability of petroleum
and natural gas from the nearby offshore and on-shore locations for the Krishna-Godavari
Basin, are presently opening up immense possibilities for establishment of port-based
and gas-based heavy industries around Kakinada city. Any person endowed with a
rational perspective vision into the conglomorate (covering atleast the four Municipal
towns & cities of Kakinada. Pithapuram, Samalkot and Peddapuram) in the vast
area surrounding Kakinada city.

It
is very rare that any area gets such sudden and sure opportunity for development
of Industry around as Kakinada city and its surrounding areas have fortunately
got at the moment.

The
Government, the municipal authorities, political parties and enlightened citizenry
of city have to react positively and in time to provide a good push to this process
of inudustrial development around the city of-course, taking simultaneously all
the necessary precautions to avoid the un-desirable effects of un-planned sudden
industrial growth over the socio-economic life of the city and its surrounding
areas.